Facebook Challenges Patents On Relationship Statuses

Facebook has challenged three patents that having to do with relationship statuses, in response to a patent infringement lawsuit that Mekki Company had filed against the social network this summer.

Facebook has challenged three patents that having to do with relationship statuses and the social graph, in response to a patent infringement lawsuit that Mekki Company had filed against the social network this summer.

The three patents concern a “human relationships registering system,” all of them the original focus of Mekki’s suit filed June 22, 2010. Facebook appears to have filed its challenge February 7 of this year, about a week-and-a-half before adding civil unions and domestic partnerships to the list of options in the relationship status menu, although it’s unclear whether there’s a connection between the legal maneuver and the new feature on the site.

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